BERKELEY – A more than 300-acre forest fire continues to burn Thursday night in this township and part of Beachwood with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service reporting it’s only 30 percent contained and expected to keep burning into tomorrow.

“The fire is going to continue to burn tonight, for sure,” said Bill Edwards, state Forest Fire Warden.

Firefighters won’t say the fire is under control until they can assess the situation Friday morning.

“Containment is the first step forward. It means the fire’s progress has been stopped. Under control means there’s no risk of the fire escaping,” said Russ Fenton, acting assistaant Division Fire Warden.

“I wouldn’t expect them to call it under control tonight.

Since the fire was reported before noon Thursday, Forest Fire Service helicopters based at Coyle Field in Burlington County and another from Andover have been dropping 325 gallons of water on the fire per trip from Miller Air Park, Edwards said. He said fixed wing air tankers contracted by the Forest Fire Service have been dropping 600 gallons of water each trip.

Edwards said there was not report of injuries or property damage Thursday. He said 60 Forest Fire Service firefighters were on the scene. Many volunteer firefighters throughout Ocean County responded to the blaze and remained on the scene.

More than 250 people in Berkeley were evacuated at one point, said Mayor Carmen Amato.

Kristy Mackown, 35, of Continental Avenue in Berkeley, made one of the first 911 calls from the neighborhood at 11:49 a.m. after she saw the flames near her home.

She took her children, ages 2 and 4, to her mother’s house nearby and then came back to see fire trucks pulling up to her home at noon.

“The wind shifted and a wall of fire came towards house. The flames were going up over the trees. The fire was close enough to hit with a garden hose. Oh my God! I was so scared for my home,” MacKown said.

The fire is still burning at 5 p.m., officials said.

Kaila Rogers, 20, of Berkeley, was taking a nap when her friend Robert Samuel, 21, of Beachwood sent her a text message about the fire at about noon.

“He texted, ‘Are you all right?’ And then my dad called me. I walked outside and I’m watching the flames blow in the wind.”

By 1 p.m., Rogers said “there were big plumes of smoke coming over the trees.”

Rogers said her father told her to take all the pictures off the wall and prepare to be evacuated. However, Rogers said she did not have to leave.

“This is about as bad as it gets for forest fires,” said Brian Gabriel, Ocean County fire coordinator, speaking of the weather conditions. “They have a classification and I believe today was a class 5, which is the worst day possible because of low humidity, high winds and dry conditions in the forest. Doesn’t get much worse than this.”

Houses along Northern Boulevard and Continental Avenue in Berkeley were evacuated, Gabriel said, and more precautionary evacuations might be put in place as firefighters use backfires to stop the main blaze, he said.

No homes were burned, but the fire did get close to some, and a Pinewald Road shed caught fire but was quickly extinguished, Gabriel said.

Fire engines took positions behind homes and kept them wetted down as a precaution, Gabriel said. He said the area near Toms River Intermediate South was still smoldering, and there would probably be smoke in the area through the night.

The fire was first reported at 11:42 a.m. as a brush fire near the intersection of Pinewald Road and Berkeley Avenues in Beachwood, said Beachwood Police Chief Robert Tapp. It quickly escalated to a multiple alarm fire and spread to Berkeley, Tapp said. There was no damage or evacuations in Beachwood, he said.

Over 60 fire vehicles and air service above are fighting the fire, Gabriel said.

Cause investigated

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, said Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy.

“Looks like right now we’re having some success containing and everyone is doing a great job with the response,” Mastronardy said.

Greg McLaughlin, division forest fire warden for the state Forest Fire Services division, said that firefighters are trying to contain the fire to less populated areas.

“Right now we are trying to contain the fire to the north, northwest side of Northern Boulevard,” McLaughlin said. “We don’t want it spreading to south of Northern Boulevard.”

Firefighters are still trying to battle hot spots areas as well as setting up a containment lines, McLaughlin said, adding that the fire is not currently contained.

“Any spots that we can reach we are going to drop water on,” McLaughlin said.

Toms River Intermediate South has been closed early so it can be used as a staging area. All students from Intermediate South were evacuated to the Pine Belt Arena in Toms River, according to the Toms River Regional School District’s website, where they were released to their normal bus routes.

Tapp of Beachwood said the evacuation was necessary due to the smoke and the heat in the area.

The fire had no impact on Central Regional High School in Berkeley, which was dismissed at the regular time, school officials said.

Berkeley Police Chief Karin DiMichele said students in the elementary school district were sheltered in place, meaning parents could come pick them up. She said she did not expect school would be affected Friday.

Most of New Jersey is in a “critical fire weather area” today and the rest is in an elevated area, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

The fire threat stems from an exceptionally dry air mass, daytime relative humidity of 15 to 25 percent and likely sustained winds of 20 to 25 mph, gusting to 30 to 40 mph, according to the center.

Fenton said the high ways and dry conditions are a big factor in the fire. Winds have gusted to 33 mph, blowing from the north-northwest, according to the Rutgers University Climate Lab.